Atwood Journal is worked up to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Each week, Mitch will share a set of songs, albums, and artists who’ve caught his ears, eyes, and coronary heart. There’s a lot unbelievable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to pay attention. By way of our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a lightweight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of recent and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options Consideration Chook Utopia, Your Smith, Bo Staloch, Matilda Mann, Courting, and ESKA!
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“Infinity Inside a Purchasing Cart”
by Consideration Chook Utopia
Tright here’s a heat and weightlessness to Consideration Chook Utopia’s debut single; a dreamy unraveling that drifts between marvel and existential longing. Losing no time with introductions, the duo of Harrison Whitford and Eli Hirsch dive straight into the guts of all of it – what it means to be alive, to exist in a second, in a set of moments, and nowhere in any respect. Launched on February 21st, “Infinity Inside a Purchasing Cart” is a kiss on the cheek and a cry into the darkish. It’s an intimate reckoning with life, time, id, and the irreconcilable complexities of our shared human expertise – all stitched collectively via a patchwork of tender sounds and sentiments that defies strict construction but by no means loses its form. The tip result’s a mixture of comforting indie people catharsis and provocative upheaval; a stream-of-consciousness reflection turned poetic mirror to our personal macro and micro worlds.
I’m the killer in your television display
I’m the buzzer in your laundry machine
All this evil’s gonna break your coronary heart
Infinity inside a procuring cart
What’s the purpose in even making an attempt to snigger?
The punch line is only a shotgun blast
Hit a automotive after I was 17
However I inform everybody my document is clear
Trigger nothing issues, it by no means did
However I don’t wanna die a nihilist
What’s the purpose in even making an attempt to give up
It doesn’t matter what you simply get sucked again in
“This tune is a collage,” Whitford – finest often known as a member of Phoebe Bridgers’ band, whose sophomore album obtained its personal Atwood function in 2021, explains. “It’s about making an attempt to make sense of issues that don’t make sense, and the non-linear nature of lived expertise regardless of the assemble of linear time. It’s additionally about no matter you need it to be. Eli and I arrange a couple of mics, I recorded the piano after which he jumped on the drums. From there, we did all the pieces else. The guitar solo has vertigo.” That embrace of uncertainty and spontaneity is what finally led to the formation of Consideration Chook Utopia within the first place.
Oh Emma had a dream
In regards to the fungus on the root of all the pieces
Guess it could possibly be god
I assume it could possibly be Jesus child
I assume it could possibly be Buddha
I assume it could possibly be the blood in my veins
I assume it could possibly be the rain
I assume I could possibly be insane
The duo’s story begins in Los Angeles, the place Hirsch was government producing Suki Waterhouse’s 2024 LP Memoir of A Sparklemuffin at his studio. One afternoon, Whitford dropped in on a session, and the 2 rapidly linked. What began as an opportunity assembly quickly developed into one thing extra as the 2 discovered frequent floor over a shared love of The Beatles, Jackson Browne, and Paul Simon, and finally, to a band of their very personal.
That pure camaraderie carried over into their musical course of. “Eli and I arrange a couple of mics, I recorded the piano, after which he jumped on the drums. From there, we did all the pieces else. The guitar solo has vertigo,” Whitford remembers. There was no inflexible plan, only a mutual understanding of sound and area.
“This was one of many first concepts Harry confirmed me,” Hirsch provides. “We recorded piano and Harry singing after which drums. It’s type of a dream sequence.” They leaned into an old-school, analog aesthetic, monitoring virtually all the pieces on classic RCA ribbon microphones. “Harry is a brilliant visible particular person and an awesome photographer, and I like how he paints with phrases. It seems like a picture.”
From an impromptu connection to a full-fledged artistic partnership, Consideration Chook Utopia’s music displays the essence of their beginnings – instinctual, immersive, and guided by the sensation moderately than method. Such is the great thing about “Infinity Inside a Purchasing Cart” – a tune that soothes because it stirs, that comforts because it caresses the soul. The lead single off Consideration Chook Utopia’s forthcoming debut album Better of Kings (out June 6 by way of right here, right here recordings) is catchy, cozy, and cryptic – a blanket of gorgeous, spellbinding songcraft for all who pay attention.
I’m the killer in your television display
I’m the buzzer in your laundry machine
All this evil’s gonna break your coronary heart
Infinity inside a procuring cart
“Change of Coronary heart”
by Your Smith
What first attracted me to Your Smith’s music, some six-plus years in the past now, was her wholehearted embrace of massive, daring melodies along with unflinching, confessional lyricism. Tracks like “Dangerous Behavior” and “In Between Plans” hit onerous and left an enduring mark not simply due to their insanely catchy hooks, however as a result of that they had depths and shade; you would sing them out loud with the automotive high down, whereas feeling one thing deep inside.
Selecting a struggle once more
Isn’t it wearin’ skinny
It’s getting onerous to inform
It’s getting onerous to name
Possibly the rationale
We’re falling aside
Why we’re falling aside
The identical can simply be stated of “Change of Coronary heart,” Your Smith’s bouncy ‘return’ to the music world after a chronic hiatus – one which noticed her transfer from LA again house to Minnesota, return to high school, get married, have a child, and open a bar on her hometown’s fundamental road. From the lows of pandemic-era 2020 to the highs 2025, the previous 5 years have been a real rollercoaster for Caroline Smith, and her new music breathes with the electrical vitality of her ongoing trip. Launched on January 3rd, the indie pop artist’s first single since 2019 is a candy, deep exhale – of a relationship, and of the previous.
“This tune is in regards to the lack of love moderately than the lack of a relationship,” she explains. “Generally relationships crash and burn, they depart you spun out for years, writing songs about heartbreak and selecting up the items. However as you age, typically relationships simply flip to lukewarm bathtub water, and the scariest half isn’t coronary heart break, it’s disentangling your self from consolation and behavior.”
“I additionally preferred writing from an air of indifference, like ‘I’ve had a change of coronary heart, it’s actually not that deep.’ I really feel placing area between the emotion and the motion has been wildly transformative for me in life, so it form of honors that if that is smart!”
Isn’t my sister
Otherwise you crashing my automotive
It’s change of coronary heart
It’s a whiff of a sense that grows in your sleep
Conserving you up til the daybreak
What number of telephones are you able to throw at a wall?
It’s a change, it’s a change of coronary heart
Smith sings scorching on the mic, her voice entrance and middle as glistening piano chords and buoyant bass guitar traces fill the air with ease and marvel. It’s a smooth, but stirring ‘hiya’ to followers new and outdated, at the same time as she cuts ties within the lyrics.
Each “Change of Coronary heart” and February’s single “Peaches” provide a glimpse at what Smith calls a reinvention of her profession, on her phrases. They’re additionally the primary two singles off her upcoming, long-awaited debut album as Your Smith, set to launch later this yr.
“To me, it feels extra like a de-invention as a result of I made a decision to strip again any form of picture that was put-on or wrought with effort,” Smith admits. “Your Smith was pure invention. I created a personality, I picked out a uniform she wore, I wrote songs that I felt had been cool. I wanted armor after a very delicate time in my life and in my profession, and Your Smith provided me that safety and distance from the business and listenership.”
“However lately I really feel far more snug, like I’m able to reconnect my private self with the work I make once more. I don’t want a uniform or an hermetic sound. I really feel most myself being somewhat underdressed, a teeny bit sloppy, the manufacturing somewhat looser, realer, and human.”
You retain the couch
Simply maintain all of it
And begin strolling it off
Why will we carry on
Making it onerous
It’s a change of coronary heart
It’s a shift of some weight that builds in your again
Catching your steadiness off guard
What number of emotions are you able to throw to the canines
It’s a change, it’s a change of coronary heart
Time could bitter some relationships, however my admiration of Your Smith and love for her music stays as robust as ever. “Change of Coronary heart” is the right reintroduction – an intimate, groovy, enchanting, and assertive tune that’s as charming as it’s cathartic and comforting. Welcome again.
Right here I’m
It’s 10:00 AM
I’m placing you again in my cellphone once more
I by no means claimed
I used to be good at clear breaks
Or spending the night time alone, however rattling
(Possibly the rationale)
(We’re falling aside)
Why we’re falling aside
Why we’re falling aside
I stands out as the cause
I stands out as the cause
Why we’re falling aside
“Give It a Break”
by Bo Staloch
The title of the sport is launch – emotional and bodily – and “Give It a Break” has each in spades. Bo Staloch’s first tune of the yr – and the opening observe to his brand-new EP, The Backyard – is a charged and churning folk-rock fever dream pushed by uncooked emotions on- and off-stage.
I referred to as you honey, referred to as you humorous
Who the hell are you to cry?
If love is humorous, take my cash
Set the joke on fireplace
Give it a break now
Give it a break now
“The idea of ‘Give It a Break’ was originated on my first ever tour this previous fall,” the Capitol Information-signed singer/songwriter tells Atwood Journal. “I really feel like my unconscious holds plenty of energy over my writing, and I feel this tune is a major instance of that. I used to be clearly impressed by the vitality and feelings of tour, which you’ll hear with the instrumentations and energetic sounds all through the tune. I used to be additionally impressed by some relationships in my life that had both simply ended or simply begun.”
“I don’t assume I’d ever have considered singing like this a yr in the past, but it surely simply felt so proper. I actually wanted to get that sort of unhappy and heavy vitality out of my system, whether or not that’s as a result of I used to be holding some vitality again in me from this relationship, or I used to be simply tremendous impressed by the dwell music of our tour. Actually, I feel it was a little bit of each. This tune feels vital to me as a result of I really feel prefer it marks a brand new chapter.”
Now you’re crying, I don’t purchase it
Name it being unhappy final
If peace is silence, name it steadiness
I’m barely getting you
Was I let down?
Was I let down?
Wading via heavy riffs and a sticky beat, Staloch rises gracefully from softer verses to all-consuming choruses, sustaining a candid, confessional air all through. “I feel the final, anthemic part of this tune is my favourite,” he says. “‘Sometime, I’ll be nice’ is a very robust and vital line to me, and I hope others can resonate with it as a lot as I do. It form of serves as a reminder to myself that as a lot as issues may suck or harm within the second, you’ll discover peace finally with it and your self.”
“I hope individuals can use this tune to launch of no matter vitality they should do away with,” he provides. “That’s precisely what it did for me, as it’s undoubtedly certainly one of my extra energetic songs. Writing songs all the time finally ends up being some type of remedy for me, particularly with this tune.”
Thought your thoughts in Arizona
Please, the sky was on fireplace
I noticed you ingesting while you’re pondering
Someway calling me a liar
Give it a break now
Give it a break now
It’s really outstanding, the true weight one can convey via their artwork. “Give It a Break” is an intimate upheaval unleashed via an impassioned and electrical efficiency, with the objective of getting as large an affect as doable.
To his credit score, Staloch overachieves – delivering an intense and immediately memorable reverie. Whereas he already made an enormous impression with final yr’s songs like “Santa Fe” and “Your Eyes Inform Tales,” it’s with “Give It a Break” (and its mother or father EP) that the Austin-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter cements himself as a part of people rock’s ‘subsequent technology’ – and a definitive Atwood artist-to-watch.
Sometime I’ll be nice
I’ll go on house the place nothing’s unsuitable
And I’ll see the orange gentle
Sometime I’ll be nice
I’ll say my title and I’ll discover it’s place
And I’ll get up with a smile
Sometime I’ll be alright
Some f*ing God
“Say It Again”
by Matilda Mann
Singer/songwriter Matilda Mann has been a private favourite ever since she debuted some five-plus years in the past; from the intimacy and marvel of 2021’s “Bloom” to the dreamy, delicate bliss of 2023’s “In Plain Sight” (additionally an Editor’s Choose!) and its mother or father EP You Look Like You Can’t Swim, the London-based artist has emerged as one of the enchanting songwriters and storytellers of her time. Her lately launched debut album Roxwell cements this fact in stone as Mann takes listeners on a soul-stirring fourteen-track journey via her personal innermost depths, exposing and leaning into the cracks she finds alongside the way in which.
A kind of ‘cracks’ is unrequited love, and nowhere does Mann say it higher than on “Say It Again,” the album’s spirited second observe (and lead single). As exhilarating as it’s emotional, “Say It Again” captures the interminable angst and anxiousness of getting these three particular phrases hanging within the air, acknowledged but unreciprocated. It’s a pop tune with punk sensibilities – a powerhouse of each ardour and frustration that channels the narrator’s very actual ache right into a rallying cry – an anthem for the hopeless romantics in all of us.
There isn’t a lot I wouldn’t do
To point out you ways a lot I like you
I’d leap off of a cliff then get again up
I’d give up my job to stick with you
I’d vote for who you’d inform me to
I’d put on no matter you resolve is scorching
Why don’t you need me like that?
Why don’t you wish to know what we might have?
Why don’t you say it, say it again?
Why don’t you’re feeling the way in which I really feel?
How will you assume this isn’t actual?
Why don’t you say it, say it again?
“‘Say It Again’ is that irritating confusion of why, should you love somebody a lot and do all the pieces you’ll be able to, do they nonetheless not love you again?” Mann shared upon her tune’s launch final yr. “Unrequited love hurts probably the most as a result of there’s that feeling of ‘the chase’ and it by no means being reciprocated. Are you simply not their sort? Good sufficient? Cool sufficient? It could make you overthink a lot you’d do loopy issues for them.”
I’m no stranger to stated overthinking, and fortunately I’ve discovered the one who ‘stated it again’ to me, however that doesn’t make this tune any much less actual, uncooked, or relatable. Mann holds nothing again in “Say It Again,” embracing her heavy coronary heart and weary soul with an inspiring depth that makes this tune an immediately memorable and achingly significant standout in a catalog that’s, fairly frankly, filled with hits.
“Pause at You”
by Courting
Courting’s third studio album is bound to instill all who pay attention with a sure ‘lust for all times,’ after which some. The Liverpool indie rockers have been fairly open and sincere about their objective of preserving “all the pieces extremely direct – to hit everybody within the face and depart” with this document. So it goes that the eight-track Lust for Life, Or: ‘The way to Thread the Needle and Come Out the Different Aspect to Inform the Story’ is a mouthful in title, however a decent bundle in observe – dashing in with the curious “Rollback Intro” and “Stealth Rollback,” hitting its stride with lead single “Pause at You,” and finally phasing out with the angular, accentuated, and feverish “Doubtless place for them to be,” which closes with a literal twenty-second onslaught of banging drums.
It’s a singular document with loads to like, and for me that love begins with “Pause at You,” the hard-hitting fireball with a seductive strut, a roaring refrain, and the form of angle that places the ‘sleaze’ in ‘indie sleaze.’
I see the constructing lights, I see indicators on the street indicators
Someone’s watching, any individual cease me
Exit stage left, billboard proper
I see God within the metropolis, I don’t imagine it
And I see ladies tonight, typeset in white neon lights
I see any individual’s watching, any individual cease me
Exit stage left, billboard proper
I see God within the metropolis, I don’t imagine it
I don’t imagine it
“‘Pause at You’ is a fruits of all the pieces we’ve been engaged on over the previous few years – an remark on nighttime paranoia combined about with night time out ecstasy. Gentle outing, flooring filling, tie undressing, rock,” vocalist Sean Murphy-O’Neill tells Atwood Journal.
“It’s meant to be nervy, it was lyrically impressed by the distinction between large metropolis paranoia and likewise a celebration of metropolis nightlife. Musically, it was primarily impressed by Berlin period Bowie, utilizing large rock piano, e-bows, and partitions of percussion. It’s meant to really feel seedy, unusual, and energetic.”
I see you typically with a glass eye
You solely see me with the lights down
See you round
I all the time see you round
Streetwalking cheater within the nighttime
New York Metropolis, name me, I received shiny eyes
I’ll see you round
I all the time see you round
Charged, churning, and charming, “Pause at You” is a decent three minutes of sonic revelry and emotional unraveling. The tune’s urgency and depth make it an simple headbanger, however what really stands out is how Courting ship a rallying cry within the chorus – a second for artist and viewers to return collectively in a second of mutual connection, reckoning, and launch.
I see you typically with a glass eye
You solely see me with the lights down
See you round
I all the time see you round
Streetwalking cheater within the nighttime
New York Metropolis, name me, I received shiny eyes, honey
I’ll see you round
I all the time see you round
I believed I’d married an enormous, large star
Yeah, child name me, I received shiny eyes
I’ll see you round
I all the time see you round
I received this metropolis in encompass sound
Dwelling prefer it’s the final day of my life
I’ll see you round
I all the time see you round
I all the time see you
I can’t go ’til
I can’t go till the present is over
It’s wonderful how one tune could make up for a ten-year drought. No less than, that was my first thought after I heard “Down Right here,” the lead single off ESKA’s forthcoming sophomore album. Arriving almost a full decade after her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album put her on the map, the Zimbabwe born, South London raised artist’s return to the highlight is fierce, dramatic, and definitive: A breathtakingly daring show of Eska Mtungwazi’s singular abilities behind the microphone.
Caught within the rush, bones aching
Uncontrolled, these sounds I’m making
Go away me alone, down right here
Say what you need however I favor it down right here
Once I’m sleeping
Oh Lord, down right here
Stated, you realize that I favor it down right here
Down right here
Down right here. Oh Lord, down right here
Please don’t wake me now, down right here
I favor it down right here within the sleeping zone
Within the sleeping zone
Hope that I by no means wake
Please don’t stir me
Let me sleep some extra
Or I’ll awake to unhappiness
Hey, or I’ll awake to unhappiness
The place the music’s
Runnin’ via my veins
Music runnin’ via my veins
Drums pulse polyrhythmic beats as ESKA pours her coronary heart out in tune. “Caught within the rush, bones aching,” she sings, her achingly expressive voice scorching on the mic. “Uncontrolled, these sounds I’m making. Go away me alone, down right here.” She reckons and roars her manner as much as a triumphant, emotionally charged chorus the place she declares, “Music runnin’ via my veins!” – as a lot a visceral mantra as it’s a passionate mission assertion.
Because the lead single off ESKA’s upcoming sophomore album The Bizarre Lifetime of a Magic Lady, “Down Right here” is an immediately memorable, head-turning reintroduction – one which stuns and stirs via a efficiency that ostensibly reaffirms ESKA’s place as a vocal virtuoso and an inimitable, simple artistic power.
Music!
It’s like listening to however with so many
totally different ranges of sound
Music runnin’ via my veins
Music!
It’s like listening to
Runnin via my veins
Music runnin’ via my veins
Please don’t wake me now
I favor it down right here within the sleeping zone
Within the sleeping zone
Hope that I by no means wake
Hope that I by no means wake
Please don’t stir me
Now, why can’t I get via to you?
Let me sleep some extra
Oh! Let me, let me sleep some extra
Or I’ll awake to unhappiness
Wake to unhappiness, wake to, wake to…
Or I’ll awake to unhappiness
To insanity this unhappiness
It’s insanity, this unhappiness
Give me music
Music runnin’ via my veins
Runnin via my veins
Music runnin’ via my…
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